Snoop Dogg has been denied a federal trademark for “Smoke Weed Everyday” after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the cannabis-themed phrase is too widely used to qualify as a brand name.
The legendary rapper was looking to secure rights to the phrase — taken from the outro of the 2001 track “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg — for a chain of marijuana dispensaries. However, in a ruling issued Tuesday, the agency determined that the lyric has become so common in popular culture that it cannot function as an exclusive trademark.
“This term or phrase is a song lyric commonly used in association with cannabis use,” the trademark examiner writes. “Because consumers are accustomed to seeing this term or phrase used in ordinary language by many different sources, they would not perceive it as a mark identifying the source of applicant’s goods and/or services but rather as only conveying an informational message.”
The trademark request was also denied for a more straightforward reason: cannabis is still illegal under federal law, and federal trademark protections only apply to goods and services that are considered lawful.
“Because applicant’s goods and/or services include items or activities that are a per se violation of federal law, the intended use or use of the applied-for mark in commerce in connection with such goods and/or services cannot be lawful,” the examiner writes.
The decision doesn’t stop Snoop from using the name for dispensaries, but it would make it more difficult for him to protect the brand if another business opened a similarly named shop. He still has the option to challenge the ruling — first by responding to the examiner, then by appealing to the PTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and ultimately taking the case to federal court if necessary.
In practice, Snoop is already using a different version of the name. He operates a Los Angeles dispensary called S.W.E.D., the acronym for the lyric, and also runs Coffeeshop S.W.E.D. in Amsterdam.
When it comes to the S.W.E.D. brand, Snoop has seen more progress on the trademark front. He also filed to register that version of the name, and the application has already received tentative approval for registration.
